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Joe Paterno’s Retirement Statement

Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno released this statement to announce his retirement after 46 years in charge of the team:

“I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case. I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief.

“I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today.

“That’s why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.

“This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.

“My goals now are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination. And then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this University.”

Comments (5 of 65)

Joe Paterno is probably the most well liked and popular figure at Penn Sate.. The powers to be have always feared his position and found this a good opportunity to retire him involuntarily.
They should have allowed him to finish the season with only three games remaining followed by a bowl game. College football and Penn State would have gained from his gradual exit.
Was he guilty? No, he complied by reporting the incident to the proper channel. If any one is guilty it is the "proper channel" for not pursuing the incident with the law.
Think of Penn State as a large corporation with different divisions with Joe heading the football department..
Now compare this to General Motors where there is a division head for Chevrolet, who reports such an incident to the department handling sex abuse cases at GM. If little or noting is done, will the division head and some of his associates be fired? I don't think so.My heart goes out to Joe, his wife and his family.

This is the first time that I think my alma mater committed a grave error for not thinking through sufficiently the situation and failing to take into consideration what an icon Joe Paterno has been for us and for the school.

.

9:13 am November 10, 2011

Don't confuse the issues wrote:

1. Anyone can be fired for a lapse in judgment - e.g., if I choose the wrong business strategy, my boss can fire me. My actions don't need to be illegal to get me fired. My boss does not need proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as decided by a jury (or a judge if it's a bench trial). Think about Ohio State's last coach.
2. The Coach fulfilled his legal obligation and is not being prosecuted by authorities (just like I would not be prosecuted for choosing the wrong business strategy, and just like the Ohio State coach was not).
3. The University is not firing the Coach because what he did was illegal, they are firing him for his lapse in judgment - see point 1 above. Would Coach have acted the same if the alleged perpetrator was someone he did not know? Highly unlikely. Given the nature of these allegations, the University's judgement is, based on the grand jury testimony that is now public (i.e., the Coach's own words), he should have put all personal feelings aside and made sure this matter was resolved to a proper conclusion. How can anyone say that this matter was resolved to a proper conclusion?

8:54 am November 10, 2011

Glass House wrote:

@HMR - If you're going to run a grammar police department, you should first familiarize yourself with the rules. Why is there such widespread confusion over the use of your/you're loser/looser two/to/too - a sad commentary on the sorry state of the educational system- where FOOTBALL is king.

7:26 pm November 9, 2011

Michael wrote:

There are too many swine in colleges and universities.

The sooner you get rid of them the better.

6:24 pm November 9, 2011

Carp023 wrote:

The person who should be crucified is McQuery. When he witnessed that activity in the shower why didn't he immediately stomp sandusky's guts out and get that kid out of there?

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